Hopelessly Blissful & Blind
by Broken Flavors
Summary: Two-shot. The days when Luffy was serious were few are far between, especially when there was no immediate danger involved. A Nakama-Centric ficlet.
1. End of Routine

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _One Piece_ or any affiliates.

Author's Note: This little plot idea popped into my head while visiting _Neverland Ranch _of all places. Of course, being hundreds of miles from my computer and the absence of any paper severely dampened the ability to keep all the details originally planned recorded. Regardless, I'm happy-ish with the result.

I'm just recently jumping back into the One Piece universe. I'm not aware of very many spoilers since the end of the Alabasta Arc (heh... pathetic), so forgive me for any inconsistencies with _Canon_. I know there are a few crew members that I'm missing, but I don't feel I would be doing them any justice by adding them while I know absolutely nothing about them.

This is also my very first attempt at anything involving _One Piece_ (although I just started a fan art also… hmm Luffy is such a good muse :])

Enjoy

* * *

_Tell me now, what have we done? We don't know!  
I can't allow what has begun to tear me down,  
Believe me now, we have no choice left  
With our backs against the wall!!_

__

And now we're all to blame  
We've gone too far  
From pride to shame  
We're hopelessly blissful and blind  
When all we need  
Is something true  
To believe  
Don't we all?  
Everyone, everyone  
We will fall

_'Cause we're all to blame  
We've gone too far  
From pride to shame  
We're trying so hard  
We're dying in vain  
We want it all  
Everyone, don't we all?_

-Sum 41, 'We're All To Blame'

-x-

The first ones to find him were Robin and Nami. They had been heading out to the deck to watch the sunset, like they did every day. But they stopped once they saw Luffy. The whole crew had been painfully aware of the lack of exuberant shouting from their Captain, but they had continued with their normal duties. No one had given too much thought to where the straw hat wearing man had gone off to; after all, it was a ship in the middle of the ocean. He couldn't get into too much trouble, right?

But there he was, leaning over the starboard railing, staring intensely at the horizon. The unusual serenity of this scene wasn't what caused the two girls to freeze in mid-step; it was the different aura of their Captain that made their hearts drop. Instead of the idiotic or, more accurately, naïve presence usually associated with Luffy, in its place was a man who they had barely glimpsed whenever they had been in rough spots with seemingly no chance of survival. This was a Luffy that was powerful and downright frightening. As Nami was about to take a step closer to their leader, Robin gently laid a hand on her shoulder, stopping her before pulling the girl back towards the cabin. The routine had been changed today.

-x-

Zoro had been having an interesting conversation with Sanji. Without any added distractions besides the temptation of food around him, the chef could actually be a decent person to converse with. The two were debating the reasons as to why the whole crew was here, on this ship, when Robin and Nami walked in. Zoro's eyes narrowed as he took in the strained muscles in their shoulders and the slight somberness in their expression. He knew there could only be one cause for this.

But of course, as always when attractive women were involved, Sanji's mind took a backseat as he immediately lavished the girls with compliments, effectively forgetting his previous tirade about 'fate.' What a gibbering, shirt-chasing wreck…

Zoro slipped out of the room towards the railing keeping anyone from falling from the second floor of the ship. He saw Luffy on the deck below and felt the aura radiating off of the teen and knew that something serious was bothering him. Zoro was, after all, the person who had been with the straw hat wearer longer than anyone else on the crew, and knew his strange moods better than anyone. The times that Luffy was serious were few and far between, and the man below him was the person who had persuaded him into joining the crew. This was a troubling thing indeed.

-x-

Zoro slipped back into the kitchen quietly. Sanji's impish smile straightened out as he took in the sudden seriousness of the swordsman and he tilted his head thoughtfully.

"It's been 19 hours since he last ate." Nami and Zoro immediately tensed while Robin looked between the three, obviously confused. But only minutes later, a small gasp was emitted from her mouth and she quickly got from the chair she was occupying to run out of the room. Zoro, Sanji, and Nami quickly followed her to the spot against the railing that Zoro had previously occupied.

Already situated on the railing were Hopper and Ussop, who were gazing solemnly at their leader. Ussop nodded a welcome as the four joined them although none of them returned the gesture. After what must have been an hour of silent observation, Zoro let out a sigh of exasperation. Slowly, he turned and started walking for the stairs, heading for the deck. Nami attempted to stop him by grabbing his hand, which he only squeezed reassuringly before continuing.

-x-

As first mate, Zoro knew it was his duty to the crew to find out what was bothering Luffy. He needed to shake their leader out of his strange reverie, and the only way to do that was through confrontation. When the swordsman reached the straw hat wearer, he copied the boy's position over the rails but remained silent. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out what to say to his Captain.

Luffy broke the silence first.

"What's Straw Hat Luffy without his straw hat?"

* * *

-tbc-


	2. Declaration of Duty

**Previously:**

_As first mate, Zoro knew it was his duty to the crew to find out what was bothering Luffy. He needed to shake their leader out of his strange reverie, and the only way to do that was through confrontation. When the swordsman reached the straw hat wearer, he copied the boy's position over the rails but remained silent. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out what to say to his Captain._

_Luffy broke the silence first._

"_What's Straw Hat Luffy without his straw hat?"_

_

* * *

_

-x-

Zoro was so stunned at the outburst that he didn't reply. He hadn't though that his captain had even noticed his presence.

Luffy lifted the hat off of his head and held it in front of him, over the railing. He fingered the dented rim of the article before turning to the swordsman with a wry smile.

"It doesn't fit, you know. This hat… it's always been just a bit too big for me. It makes sense though. It isn't my hat after all."

"Luffy…"

"People always think that finding One Piece is just a childish dream of mind, but its not. Zoro… I need to become King, but for me. I'm doing it for Shanks, Ace, all of the crew… hell, I'm doing it for Alabaster and Vivi, Lougetown, and everywhere we've been. Sure, I want to be known as King of the Pirates, but that's just a title. What it represents is the most important thing."

"But even all of that isn't what's bothering me. Sure, its stressful but I'm up for the challenge. Hell, I love it. Being able to prove myself by giving Shanks back his hat will be the most fulfilling thing I'll ever do… heh, and beating Whitebeards crew will make Ace pretty annoyed., but what about after that? After I'm King, what will happen to the Straw Hat Crew? All of you guys have already given up so much to help me find One Piece, and after that happens, it'll be even harder to accomplish your goals."

Luffy lapsed back into silence and Zoro contemplated the points his Captain had brought up. He had never heard his leader speak so many words at once, especially without any mention of meat whatsoever.

"Luffy, when we joined this crew, we knowingly put our dreams on the backburners to help you achieve your goal. Right now, finding One Piece is the most important thing to every one of us."

"But Zoro…"

"Just think about it. Once you find One Piece, there's going to be a bunch of pirates out looking for your head in order to prove that they're the best in the sea, and I'll be there to tear each of them down. You won't even have to lift a finger and I'll be getting closer to my goal until I finally become the best swordsman there ever was. And what about Nami? You already freed her village from Arlong, which is way more than she ever hoped to achieve when she joined the two of us. With all this traveling that we're doing, she's already documented a great part of the Grand Line and her navigational skills keep improving. This voyage you included us in has already helped each and every one of us immensely. Why the hell are you thinking so hard about all of this anyways?"

"Hehe… exactly ten years from this day, Red-Haired Shanks saved me from death at the cost of his arm. He sacrificed his own safety, just so that a seven year old brat who picked a fight with a bandit had a chance to live. This day just really puts things into perspective."

Zoro looked at the rubber boy and sighed. Luffy didn't talk much about his childhood, and especially not Shanks.

"I guess the whole point of this was, do you realize that my fate is to die just like Gold Roger? I'm most likely going to be executed someday… and can any of you stand that? Can you just stand back and let my life ended by some Marine pansies?"

"No. We would fight and you would survive."

"And at what cost? Your life? Sanji's life? Or the rest of the crew's? The thing is, I _want_ to be killed that way. Its a hell lot of a better way than to die in battle to someone who possibly wouldn't deserve the title and dying of natural causes would be a lot worse."

Luffy flinched and looked away from the swordsman. "The whole debacle with the Baron on Omatsuri Island (1) is definitely my worst memory to date… and I couldn't stand any of my crew dying for me and what I've done. Everyday, we get closer to One Piece and the danger surrounding us increases. I'm ready for the challenge, but I hate putting you all in needless danger."

Zoro sighed as he roughly rubbed his face with his right hand. "Luffy, there's no way in hell that we blame you for that damn Baron. Besides, what good is being a pirate if you don't have a bit of danger attached to every adventure? Believe me, you're not going to die due to some Navy scum and neither are any of us. Have faith."

Luffy smirked. "Faith? Heh… you don't have to worry about that. I have all the confidence in the world that my crew will be great and will survive. I… ehh, sorry. I really shouldn't have worried all of you over something so silly…"

"Luffy, you just keep surprising us. What's next? You actually preparing a strategy before confronting some enemy behemoth? Really, none of us ever imagined you to be so serious!" Zoro snorted at the uplift in mood.

Luffy frowned as he looked past the swordsman, towards the ship's cabins.

"What is it now?"

Luffy grinned shyly as he put the infamous straw hat back upon his head. "Well… I'm kind of hungry."

Zoro rolled his eyes as he pushed off the railing and turned towards where the rest of the crew had been silently eavesdropping.

"You heard the captain you shitty cook. Make us some food."

"_Seaweed head_!"

Luffy laughed gleefully as he jumped up the stairs towards the rest of the Straw Hat crew, his previous musings temporarily forgotten.

* * *

(1)- Reference to the Sixth One Piece movie. I highly recommend you watch it if you haven't already.

* * *

Author's note:

Okay, so the end result has deviated far from my original idea for this, but I'm hoping that's not a bad thing. Instead of a 500ish word drabble, this has become an over 2k ficlet… whew. Plus, it's my first _One Piece_ fic, so hopefully I did the manga some justice and didn't completely butcher Luffy. I really can't decide for myself, I'm definitely my own worst critic, so any opinions through reviews are greatly appreciated!

Thanks for all reviews and I truly hope that you enjoyed this piece.

This story is definitely pending edits. Nothing major, but I haven't proofread either chapter yet… horrible, right? So please forgive any grammar mistakes.

* * *

-fin-


End file.
